I've been a PC gamer ever since 1996 and Wolfenstein 3D and discovered the joys of mouselook with Quake 2. Heck, I *still* play that game.
A couple of months ago, a hands-on encounter with NFS Underground on the GBA-SP made sure I bought one of those. Last month, a freak, chance encounter with a relative made sure I got a PSTwo.
All my life, I was totally slamming the people who owned consoles and used gamepads and controllers for their games. I prided myself on being a true gamer, one that worked with mouseclicks and keyboard shortcuts. I still am pretty good with the latest games, not WCG Finals material, but still, good. I was of the opinion (and still am) that a PC owner has the best of both worlds.
He can use his PC for almost anything on the planet, and still, with a good video card upgrade, can play the best and newest games at ultra-high resolutions and all the eye candy. But the PSTwo changed all that.
I was ashamed that my GeForce FX5950U, for which I spent almost 25k, was performing pretty bad when compared to a friend's 9600 here. I've been playing NFSU2, POP:WW and POP:SoT on the PS2. Their PC counterparts are obviously great, no doubt about it, with ultra-high-resolution graphics and inherent 5.1 channel audio.
But the PS2 version is just as good, and for the first time in my life, I am actually surprised that I found it easier to play PoP on the console with the controller than with the keyboard and mouse. It was totally effortless!
And last week, I got down a 4 hour long session with Halo on the XBox, and I walked away with the opinion that the Halo: Combat Evolved I played on the PC totally paled in comparison with the XBox experience. In fact, I have spoken to a friend in Delhi who said he'd get me the XBox from Delhi cheap when he came into Bangalore in April.
I learnt a bitter lesson - If you're a true hardcore gamer, you will own a state of the art PC with a medium to high end video card, and both the PS2 and the XBox. It might sound stupid, but trust me, thats the only "feel-good" solution. Plus, what's the point of earning money if you cannot spend it on something that doesn't make you feel good?